Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, or the concept/idea for the story. It is based on the webtoon Lookism, by Taejoon Park, which I heavily recommend you go check out!
Hey guys, how ya been? Sorry it took so long to update, exams are really killing me atm, among other things. Don't worry though, I should have a little more free time in February, so the updates should be more consistent. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, sorry :(
When I arrived, I was surprised that my dad, Poseidon, was there to welcome me. He was one of three owners of Olympic records, so he wasn't around much. According to my mom, I'd look like him some day. I love her, but there was no way a fat tub of flesh like me could ever look like him. He was handsome in every sense of he word. He had a nice tan, a 5'o clock shadow that highlighted his sharp jawline, and he was fit. The only thing we had in common was the messy hair and the eyes, but you wouldn't notice it when we stood side by side, that's for sure. We both had messy black hair and intense sea green eyes that constantly changed shade. He was also way taller than me. Either I was due for a growth spurt, or I was just naturally this small, which would suck.
He must've seen the surprise on my face, because he laughed and said "What? You didn't think I'd let my own son navigate through New York alone, now did you?"
I hesitated, because honestly? Yeah, I did think that. My dad and I... we weren't exactly on the best terms. I mean, I don't hate him or anything, but I barely saw him. I figured it's cause he was kind of ashamed of me. "Uhh, kind of?"
He put his arm around me. "C'mon son, I love you okay? I know I haven't been... the best father, but I do love you. Look, I'll cancel my whole day and it'll just be me and you, all right? We'll visit all the best places in New York!"
I smiled, because that sounded... Well.. Nice. "Okay dad, thanks."
He nodded. "All right, let's go to your new place first."
He helped me put my luggages in this sweet shadow black Ford Mustang GT 5.0L V8 Ti-VCT RWD with blue accents on it.
I whistled. "Damn pops, that is one sweet ride!"
He grinned at me with a glint in his eyes. "Yeah? You like it? I'll keep that in mind."
"Uh, what? Why?..Oh.. Dad, no! You're not gonna give me a car! Seriously, I mean it, I don't want a car. Please, tell me you're not gonna give me a car!...Dad?"
-Line Break-
"Uhh, dad... You just passed the school." I told him confusedly.
"Yes, I see that."
"Okay... So are you going back?"
"You don't start school till two weeks from now! Why on earth would I go back now? "
"Because you said we were gonna go to my new place...?"
"Right I did, yeah, so?"
I scratched my head. "Uhm, so why aren't we at the school? Mom said I'll be staying in the dorms?"
He waved his hand at that. "Please, you think I'd let my son stay at a dormitory? No, nuh-uh, I got you a place here near the school." And then he parked his car outside this building.
"What? But I can't pay for that!"
"Which is why I'll be paying for it."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "What, but...Why?"
"What do you mean why? You're my son! That's all the reason I need!"
I opened my mouth, ready to protest, but he held his hand up.
"Look, son. Your mom has been taking great care of you these past 16 years, and I feel awful that I wasn't there for the majority of them, so I wanted to... Make it up to you I guess. I know I won't be able to be around much, Zeus is really riding me at the moment about globalizing our business, so I want you to be able to live comfortably while I'm gone. Now come on, let's get your stuff into your new place."
"I... okay dad."
-Line Break-
Oh my gods. This place was amazing. It wasn't the biggest place by any means, but it was all mine. There was the kitchen on the left when you entered, a nice living room further in, 2 bathrooms and bedrooms and the wall were blue... It was a paradise to me.
"Dad... This is way too much! It must be costing you a fortune!"
He laughed at that. "Please, Percy. This is nothing! Wait till you see where I live, trust me, you'll know what a fortune looks like then."
"But.. I can't take this... I'd owe you way too much!"
He shook his head, and grabbed me by the shoulder. "Trust me Percy, you don't owe me anything, okay? Just... Do well at school and don't get into any trouble... Well... Don't get into too much trouble all right? I was young once too so I get it."
He must've noticed how uncomfortable I looked, because he sighed and said "Look, if it'll make you feel better, I'll just pay for the apartment and the bills all right? You can pay for your own food, and anything else you might need. And once you have more money, you can even start paying some of the bills. But, only when you have enough money, all right? How does that sound?"
I smiled at him. "It sounds absolutely perfect. Thanks dad."
He winked at me. "Don't mention in sport. But if you ever need any money, I'm only one text away. Now, let's go get the rest of your stuff, yeah? And then we'll go out for some ice cream, or maybe hotdogs, ah hell, both."
"That sounds great dad. I'd love that."
We finally finished putting all my things in the, no wait, my apartment and we were just about ready to spend the day together when my dad got a phone call. Oh, oh no.
"Don't worry son, it'll just be a sec. and then we'll be eating ice cream." My dad reassured me. "Hello, Poseidon speaking."
"Uh-huh... Uh-huh... Wait, what?!... He did what?!...No, no, no I told him NOT to do anything until I get back! Fuck, all right, all right, I'm on my way, tell him NOT to do anything else."
My face fell at the disappointed look he gave me. "I'm really sorry Percy. There's this emergency at work and-"
"-you really have to go." I finished. "Yeah, hey it's okay dad. Seriously, I get it."
"I will make it up to you Percy, I promise." He tried to reassure me. I just faked a smile and nodded my head. Let's just say I'm used to him not keeping his promises by now. I've long given up on getting angry at him for that. I'm used to it.
He nodded. "All right, here," he said putting a pretty big was of cash on the counter, "This should cover you for a month or so... Go out and eat something. On me."
"Dad, that's way too much!"
He shook his head, and winked. "See it as a... housewarming present."
I smiled tightly. "Right, thanks dad."
"I'll see you around, okay Percy?"
"Yep, yep, good luck."
And then he left. I was all alone.
Even that couldn't stop me from feeling like I was on top of the world though. No one knows me here. I don't have to fear tomorrow anymore. Nothing could bring me down. I had this brand new chance to be... re-born. Like a caterpillar waiting to come out of its cocoon as a butterfly. It's my turn to be that butterfly!
...wow that was kind of lame. I can't believe I actually had that thought. I shuddered. Yep, definitely time to get out of this place and explore New York.
-Line Break-
The first thing I did, was go into a pretty fancy looking hair salon. If I wanted to become... ugh, a butterfly, I had to look the part. Man, I really wished I knew a better metaphor...
"Welcome." The hairdresser said unenthusiastically. "You uhhh, you here for a cut?"
"Um...yeah. I'm uhh... I'm here for a cut..." I stuttered out. Man, I really have to work on my people skills.
"Have a seat here...sir." He said uneasily, pointing to chair in the far dark corner. It was absolutely perfect.
"So, any ideas on what you would like?" He asked me.
"Uh.. No, not really." I stammered out.
"How about the 'two block' style?"
"What's that?"
"The sides and lower back of the hair is shaved. It's all the rage with the celebrities nowadays."
"Uh... Sure, let's go with that."
"All righty."
-Line Break-
"There, all done!" he announced.
I looked at myself in the mirror. Well... I didn't look.. that bad to be honest. I thought I looked kind of good, all things considered.
"I did my best, I hope you like it." He told me with a grin. "You uhhh.. you might feel awkward at first."
I thanked him and payed, and then I was off.
Man, this haircut really did change things. Everywhere I went, people were staring at me and whispering. I've gotta admit, it did boost my confidence a little, I was even standing up straighter.
I passed a window and looked at my reflection. I don't look that different... Do I? I don' even know anymore. I mean, I guess I look...tougher? Maybe I should start working out more though.
I felt someone's gaze on me so I turned around. There stood this admittedly beautiful African American girl, with shoulder-length curly cinnamon brown hair and gold eyes. But unlike Kronos' the golden orbs only held warmth and kindness. I wasn't attracted to her though. I mean, yeah she was beautiful, no doubt, but to be honest she felt more like family to me, as weird as it sounded.
I still blushed though, because I was hopeless around girls and women in general. Also, because I'm pretty sure she caught me flexing and making faces at myself...
I flashed her an uncomfortable smile, and it must've looked creepy because that's what her face was telling me. Ah damn. Welp, there goes all or any confidence I had in this hairstyle I guess. Or so I thought. It would get much worse later, but I digress.
"Hazel?" Someone called out to her. And out stepped this buff Asian guy, with a babyish face and brown eyes. To be kind of honest his head seemed out of place with his stout body and military haircut. "You haven't been waiting to long have you?"
"Oh, hey Frank! No, I just got here." She answered back to who I'm assuming is her boyfriend. I ship it.
He directed his gaze at me and rolled up his sleeves. "Who's this guy? You know him?"
"Nah... Let's just go." She said with an uneasy smile.
"Just a second. Why's he smiling at you?" He asked with a side glance aimed at me. I do not have a good feeling about this...
"It's nothing... Don't do this again Frank!"
"Nothing?! Let me go for a sec."
Ooh boy, here comes trouble. Maybe I should just go. Right when I was about to walk away, Frank called out to me.
"Hey! How old are you?"
"I said let's go!" Hazel insisted, but it fell on deaf ears.
I gulped, but looked him in the eyes. "Six... Sixteen.." I mumbled. Damn, he was tall and he looked kind of scary when he was mad.
"Same age! Hah!" he exclaimed, but he didn't... look happy. What a weird guy.
"Come on! Let's go!" Hazel shouted, grabbing him by his right arm.
"Fine.." He agreed reluctantly.
"You are damn lucky today, pal." He told me seriously.
"Don't be like that in public!" Hazel scolded him with a small frown.
"I won't forget your face." he threatened me. Wonderful. That's just great. My first day here and someone already wanted my head on a pike. This haircut sucked.
"Sorry." Hazel muttered uneasily at me. I just gave her a slight smile. Sympathy seemed to always come from girls. I let out a sigh and slumped agains the window. I survived at least. And then I saw it. Her purse. She forgot her purse.
I could just leave it there, act like I never saw it and probably spare myself a beating, but... She had saved me, in a way. I suppose I do owe her now... Argh, damn these values my mother taught me!
I grabbed it and sprinted after them. What the Hades? How'd they get so far away?
"Hey!" I shouted at them. They looked back and stopped when they saw me running after them. "Thanks ...gods, found ... Give ..sec... catch breath." I wheezed out. I definitely have to work out more, geez...
I might have been taking to long to catch my breath, because Frank started to look impatient. "Hey, guy, didn't I make it clear earlier? I told you not to show yourself again."
"Frank wait! Let's hear him out!" Hazel tried to reason.
"Bag... hers... forgot." I wheezed out desperately. I don't think he understood what I meant, because before I knew it he punched me on the cheek.
"Piss off!" He said protectively, placing himself between me and Hazel, who was trying to get him to stop.
All around us, people made a circle, doing nothing but gawk and/or laugh at this humiliating scene.
He grabbed me by my hair, and got ready to punch me again. Although the fist was scary, I was actually more worried about the sounds of phones recording this.
After my beating, I willed all of my strength to grab the purse behind me and placed it by the now fighting couple. I don't know if they noticed me or not, all I was focused on was getting the hell out of here, and back to my place. Attention sucked.
-Line Break-
Oh my gods... I found a video of the fight, oh who am I kidding, a video of my beating on Instagram. I wanted to die after watching it. This time, I could actually hear what people were saying while I got my ass handed to me. It had 69k likes and 17k comments. I suppose you could consider me an Instagram star now...
All of my confidence and determination that I tried so hard to get... Gone. It disappeared just like that. I don't know what I was thinking, I'm fucking garbage. There was nothing but mockery on my phone.
I looked through my contacts. There was no one I could call about this, no friends. My mom? She'd flip out and fly here, ruining her book tour, I couldn't do that to her! She worked so hard to get there!
My dad? I was afraid of what he might do to Frank. He could be a very scary man when he wanted to be.
The pizza place?... Not a bad idea actually. I should order a pizza I thought, until I saw my reflection. Never mind... I should just go to bed, it's been a long day...
And suddenly New York was tainted. What had been a fresh start, was now also tainted by this appalling loneliness.
I got under my covers and cried myself to sleep.
-Line Break-
I woke up, because I needed to pee. Badly. It was still dark out, I'd guess it was about midnight, possibly later.
I got up and headed to the bathroom. Huh, I felt a lot... lighter?
While I was peeing I wondered, was the ceiling always this...low? I guess I'm not used to this place yet. The sink looked lower too. Everything did actually.. Maybe my eyes were swollen from all the crying?
Doesn't matter I suppose, I'll just wash my hands and go get breakfast somewhere... And then I looked up.
Holy mother of gods.
How do I explain this?
My eyes weren't as swollen as I thought. They seemed perfectly fine. In fact, they were the only things about myself that I recognized at the moment.
The man staring back at me was... Perfect.
I was so shocked I couldn't make a sound, it was like someone pressed pause.
My hair was still jet black and disheveled, but it framed this face with high cheek bones, a sharp jawline, the same sea green eyes that somehow looked brighter, more dazzling framed by these long eyelashes, and I was tanned like my dad. And my body... I was naked... Oh my gods... I was fit. My pecs were well defined, my abs, my gods there were actually six of them... This wasn't me.
I took a step back, and slipped on the bathroom mat and fell into my room. What is this? What is with my body? Was this a dream? But... It hurt when I fell..
Confusion and doubt poured in suddenly. What should I do? Call the police? 911? Nah, maybe first mom!
While dealing with the panic alone, I saw something even more shocking in my bed.
It was... Me?
There was a 'me' still sleeping soundly.
... What the fuck?! There was no mistaking it. There I was, sleeping in front of...me? I looked at myself in the mirror in my bedroom. This handsome dude was definitely me... But, that body sleeping in my bed was also absolutely me!... What the fuck?!
I felt my torso, it was pulsating, these toned muscles were so vivid and alive... I had a heartbeat... This wasn't a dream... This was real life.
I stared at myself on the bed, and I had this feeling of...horror. I wasn't mad, and I certainly wasn't dead.
I grabbed my phone and tried to find something, anything... But there was no information online...
Should I call the police? Mom? And then I had a chilling thought.
If I called the police or hospital... It would make things much worse... They'd want to examine my body, do experiments on me... I shuddered. Definitely not the police or the hospital.
And mom... She has so much on her plate right now... Better not tell her for now.
I guess there's only one person who can help me solve this... Me. I should try waking me up, I would probably listen to myself. This was so weird and confusing.
I started shaking my uhh, my other body I guess, saying "Hey... Excuse me, um excuse me, please wake up." Man, why was I speaking so formally to myself?
I started shaking me harder and harder, the volume of my voice increasing. Ugh, why wasn't I waking up?!
I slapped myself and shouted "Hey!"
And then... I woke up. What's this? I looked at my hands, they were chubby and pale again. It was my original body! Was it all a dream!? But it felt so... lifelike. I felt pretty tired though, and I had to pee. It was pretty easy to see it as just a dream though.
Too bad... It was kind of nice not to be, well, mefor a while... Now that I've accepted it as a dream, I kind of felt sorry it was just a dream... Ah well. Probably for the best. Don't want to make things too complicated here in New York. I better go to the bathroom.
I bumped into something on the ground, I looked down and there it was...There I was... The body from earlier... What. The. Fuck?! So... It wasn't a dream?! Oh, oh shit.
Was that me? This doesn't... Seem like a dream... That feeling of horror was back, full force.
I started shaking my other body, saying "Excuse me. Hey."
Maybe it was because I'd done it once, it was easier to do again. I slapped myself and shouted "Hey!"
And then I woke up, staring at my old body again. I don't know why, but I was shocked by this. I woke up in the other body!
We, no wait, I repeated this cycle for the rest of the night.
-Line Break-
People say humans are adaptive creatures. I suppose that's true, because it just took me a few days to accept this impractical reality.
I have no idea why this body was created, but I do know I can't tell anyone. If I did, they might get into trouble because of me. Hunted down and tortured or something by the government, or scientists or something else...
I've learned a lot about my bodies though. If I fall asleep, I wake up in the other body. When one body is awake, the other one sleeps. And if the awake body fall asleep dead tired, I wake up in the other body that was sleeping, feeling refreshed and well rested.
I have learned four things about this situation over the vacation:
The sleeping body won't wake by itself. No matter how long I waited, the other body wouldn't wake up. I have to fall asleep to change bodies.
If I force myself to wake up, the other body automatically falls asleep.
The other sleeping body feels hunger and needs to fo to the bathroom too, since it's actually alive. It works just like any other body would I guess. Which means, I can't let one body sleep longer than the other, and vice versa. I needed a good sleep schedule for my health, so I decided to change bodies every 12 hours.
My consciousness was active 24/7. Seriously. When I change to the sleeping body, my brain becomes well-rested and refreshed.
That being said, there was still a lot of things I didn't know about... my situation. If I killed one body, would only one body remain? I wasn't brave enough to try though. There was no guarantee of survival.
Time flew by fast, and before I knew it, it was the day before my first day of the new school.
I was totally freaking out. It was tomorrow! I mean, I guess I had to go to school, but no one would understand my situation... I was currently in my old body, and I thought about my past experiences in school... I made a decision.
-Line Break-
I looked at the gates of my new school with apprehension. I sighed, I have to go in. I know I do... I just... What if nothing was different? What if I was bullied? Again? What if I was the target of yet another gang? What if couldn't make any friends again? What if- I shook my head. I could stand here all day thinking up what ifs, but things are different now. I'm different now. I tightened the blue tie of my school uniform, took a deep breath, and walked toward... the Goode art school..? Ha, nice name. I grinned at that.
Everyone was staring at me. I didn't like it. At all. I thought about the last time people were staring at me and whispering. It always ended with a beating. Why couldn't I be normal? That's all I ever wanted...
I accidentally bumped into this guy who was staring at his reflection. I get you dude, I get you.
"Ah, sorry about that." I muttered in my surprisingly deep voice. Seriously, this body had a deep, almost melodious, voice. The weird thing? When I woke up in my old body, I still had the same deep, almost melodious, voice. Then again... Maybe my voice was always like this? I can't even remember anymore to be honest...
"Hey, watch where you're going!" He snapped, turning around to look at me.
"I'm really sorry." I said earnestly. This body was just so light...
When he looked at me, he paled.
"Uhh... Are you okay?" I said, my eyebrows furrowed. Did I hurt him?
He just silently gawked at me. Ookay then... Imma just... move on.
It's so weird. With this higher line of sight, the world looked so tiny.
Everywhere around me, people gawked and gasped when I passed them. I felt really uncomfortable... Will I do well here? I hope so.
Further away from me 2 girls were whispering.
"Hey, hey, did you see him?" One whispered.
"Wow. Just, wow. I'm gonna run ahead, so shout my name okay?" The other one whispered back.
I shook my head, it was none of my business. I just couldn't believe the day would come where I would wear this size of clothing..
Suddenly a girl ran past me. Huh, she must be in a hurry.
"Hey, Lacy!" A girl shouted behind me, and the running girl, Lacy, stopped and turned around.
"Ah, yes?" She said, glancing at me? Nah, probably at someone behind me. And then she blushed and kept staring. Girls are weird.
I hope no one bullies me, was all I could think about at the moment. I wonder where I had to go to get my schedule? Glad I came earlier, I have no idea where I'm going.
-Line Break-
I was currently staring at the door of my classroom. Fashion design. I know what you were thinking, Percy why on earth would you sign up for the fashion department? Wouldn't you rather go to a more artistic department? Well, yeah that would make more sense, but whenever I would draw it was always people. And drawing clothes fascinated me. Combining patterns, and colors. Thinking about all of this would always distract me from whatever hell I was in, just because it just required so much thought. I dreamed of one day making my mom the clothes she deserved to wear.
"The teacher is here." someone shouted in the classroom. I gulped, it was almost showtime.
"Quiet!" he shouted. "Students, we have a new transfer student."
"A transfer?" someone asked.
"At our school?" someone else added. "A guy or a girl?"
"Come on in." The teacher, Mr. Blofis, commanded. I took a deep breath, and entered.
Aaaand I got the same reaction as I did when I entered the school gates. Silence. Everyone's jaws dropped and they were gawking at me. Great, just great. All I wanted was to survive this year, unnoticed. Guess that plan flew out of the window.
I cleared my throat. "Um.. Hey, I'm Percy Jackson." I started, hopefully not sweating as much as I feared, "Nice to meet you all."
Ugh, why were they all just... staring at me? Whatever, just... don't make eye contact. I reminded myself.
Mr. Blofis cleared his throat, obviously not used to the silence that ensued when I came in. "Uhh, okay Percy. Nice to meet you too, right class? You can take that empty seat there." And he pointed to this empty desk.
My appearance seemed to have caused a stir in the class... there was one group whispering and blushing at me mostly girls, while another group looked at me... kind of cautiously? Wonder why. These people were weird, that's for sure.
I walked over to my new desk and took deep breaths. All right, this is my first day! I gotta start this semester out right! I have to get close with whoever's sitting next to me first. That seemed like a good start. Last year was a nightmare.
I sat down, and smiled hopefully in a friendly way at my neighbor and said "Hey."
And then I saw who it was. Oh fates, why must you be so cruel to me?
It was him! The guy who beat me up! What was his name again?... Oh yeah, Frank!
"Yeah, hi." he muttered, opening his eyes slightly, before closing them again. Welp, that plan also flew out of the window... Maybe I should just stop making plans...
All around me people were whispering. This sucks, things went wrong from day one.
"Hey." someone said to me. I looked to my left and I saw this gorgeous girl with long curly blond hair, kind of like a princess. She kind of looked like a typical California girl, except her stormy grey eyes ruined the image. Or improved it, if you asked me. Her eyes looked calculating, like she was analyzing me, as if she was thinking of the best way to take me down in a fight... I shuddered. She had tanned skin, a great figure, she looked very athletic. She could definitely take me down in a fight. "Percy? Hi, I'm Annabeth."
I gave her what I hoped was a friendly smile, and squirmed in my seat. "Uh.. Hi Annabeth.. Nice to meet you."
She gave me this dazzling smile, showing off her pearly whites, and my heart fluttered. I really hoped my face wasn't as red as it felt. I was really uncomfortable though. I mean, don't get me wrong, any other day, I'd be getting rejected by this beautiful girl by now. I'd be ecstatic! But everyone was staring at our interaction, and I felt like some animal at the zoo. The only time everyone stared at me like this, was when I was getting beaten up, about to get beaten up or already beaten up. Let's just say attention? Not for me.
And right now, I seemed to have caught everyone's attention...
"Hey Annabeth, how about you leave the poor kid alone." Frank suddenly spoke up, his eyes still closed.. "He just got here and everyone's already undressing him with their eyes."
I looked at him, surprised he would stand up for me like that... I certainly didn't expect him to notice how uncomfortable I looked.
"I was just being friendly." She said defensively.
He opened his eyes again and said "Yeah? Well, you can be friendly some other time, when he isn't being gawked at by everyone around him on his first day here."
Annabeth opened her mouth, no doubt ready to argue, but I guess she must've seen how everyone was staring at us, and how uncomfortable I looked because she just nodded her head, smiled at me and said "Yeah, all right. It was nice meeting you Percy, I'll see you around."
I gave her a genuine smile and said "Nice to meet you too Annabeth."
I turned to Frank, ready to thank him, but he was looking behind him, at this girl that looked oddly familiar. Oh, yeah, that was that girl he was with that day... Hazel!
She was currently staring at me, well more like frowning, as if she was trying to place where she knew me from. I don't know what Frank was seeing because when he turned back to me, he was glaring daggers at me and...growling? Something felt off.
I started sweating.
One thing's for sure...
This would be an interesting semester.
Yo, I hope you guys enjoyed reading it, I know I enjoyed writing it :D Anyhow, let me know what you guys thought! Loved it? Hated it? Got any ideas? Let me know ;)
On to the reviews:
To ImHellaUgly: Dude, me too! I love that webtoon! Those fastpasses tho, both a blessing and a curse, amiright? XD
To Guest: Aw, thanks man! :)
To more-like-reyna: Lol, me too tbh, idk what I'm doing. Anyhow, glad you liked it.
All right, that's all of em! I wish you guys a great life and uhhh...
I guess I'll see you in the next one!
X(::)X(::)
Pencilvester
Ps: I didn't add anything, well I didn't add too much, I was doing a couple of touch ups, fixing the mistakes I missed when I reread this the first time, and making sure the continuity wasn't screwed up. Sorry if it confused you guys hehe.